QUEBEC — New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair is accusing Stephen Harper of acting like a used-car salesman in trying to hand off the broken Champlain Bridge to Quebec.

Emerging from a meeting with Premier Philippe Couillard — their first since the Quebec election — Mulcair came down clearly on Quebec’s side of the bridge issue.

They agreed to disagree about Senate reform and only briefly talked about the constitution, but on more concrete issues like job creation and the failing bridge, the NDP is on side.

Ottawa has an “obligation” to replace its bridge and because it’s not a new bridge installing tolls are out of the question.

“Mr. Harper is acting like a used-car salesman (in offering the bridge),” Mulcair told reporters after the hour-long meeting in the premier’s Honoré-Mercier building offices.

“It’s a little insulting to hear Mr. Harper describe it as a small local bridge over the creek on a farm.”

“The Champlain Bridge is a federal responsibility, an essential infrastructure for Quebec and Canada. The federal government is responsible for it for a reason: it’s a bridge over an international waterway.

“They never maintained it as they should have and we are paying the price today. It’s urgent that they act.”

In a surprise move in the bridge saga Thursday, Harper announced he was willing to hand over the bridge to Quebec.

His offer was coldly received here and even perceived as a flippant gesture given the ongoing feud about the bridge between Ottawa and Quebec.

“I don’t want to be drawn into a parallel debate where the priority today should be to fix the bridge, announce the deadlines and start work as soon as possible,” Couillard said Thursday.

Couillard reiterated Quebec’s position with Mulcair at their meeting, which appeared to be a friendly affair from the get-go.

Having both served as ministers at the same time in Jean Charest’s government (and tangled equally with the former Liberal premier), they know each other well.

Greeting each other in the hallway of the premier’s office on a first-name basis, Couillard rapidly slipped into the less formal “tu-toi” language of friends.

Both said they have stayed in touch over the years, with Mulcair waxing nostalgic about his days as a National Assembly politician.

And before the doors were closed, Couillard spelled out elements of his vision of Quebec’s role in the federation.

“We want to put Quebec back in a leadership position in the federation while reminding all Canadians we want to be active players in making Canada an even greater country than it is,” Couillard told Mulcair in French.

Couillard then announced, in a first gesture, that he plans to attend the next meeting of the council of the federation in late August in Charlottetown.

Still, Couillard and Mulcair did not give any sense of urgency to open constitutional talks.

Couillard campaigned in April saying he’d eventually like to revive talks to have Quebec sign the constitution. He’s set an objective of 2017 — the 150th anniversary of confederation — to complete the process.

Mulcair insisted a lot can be done without opening the constitution, saying he would have a different attitude toward federal-provincial relations.

“Stephen Harper has failed to attend a single meeting of the council of the federation since becoming prime minister and it shows an attitude, an inability to work with others,” Mulcair told reporters.

Mulcair said his personal connection to Couillard and the province is an asset should he become prime minister in the 2015 federal election.

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